The history of critical race theory

Critical race theory first came into thought in the late 1970s, specifically as a legal theory. It was developed by many scholars, including Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Cheryl Harris, Richard Delgado, Patricia Williams, Gloria Ladson-Billings and Tara Yosso.

Janel George of the American Bar Association defines critical race theory quite clearly: “[Critical race theory] critiques how the social construction of race and institutionalized racism perpetuate a racial caste system that relegates people of color to the bottom tiers. CRT also recognizes that race intersects with other identities, including sexuality, gender identity, and others. CRT recognizes that racism is not a bygone relic of the past. Instead, it acknowledges that the legacy of slavery, segregation, and the imposition of second-class citizenship on Black Americans and other people of color continue to permeate the social fabric of this nation.”

Critical race theory also studies the effects of popular media and mistakenly-named “neutral” opinions, as well as pointing out that true neutrality does not exist in a legal system that is complicit in upholding racism.

Though critical race theory began in the legal field, it did not remain there long. In the 1980s and 1990s, the theory grew quickly and spread to other fields of study. Critical race theory has also grown beyond examining the white/Black experience of racism, expanding into LatCrit, TribalCrit, and AsianCRT, all of which seek to study a certain form of racial oppression.

To those with a comprehensive understanding of the history of this country, the tenets of critical race theory are far from mind-blowing. Admitting that racism still persists in the U.S. is not a difficult task, nor should it be with the vast evidence that people of color, specifically Black Americans, still grapple with the extensive effects of a society that refuses to even acknowledge, much less address, its own prejudice. Critical race theory simply sheds light on this fact, and aims to study its depth, causes, effects and complexities within American institutions. 

At its core, critical race theory seeks to study the truth of racism in America: in the law, in education, in the past, in the present and in the future. And to racist people, and they should be called what they are, the idea of having this truth studied in schools is truly terrifying.